Mariners fight but still get blanked by Rangers

May 9, 2008 - 6:56 AM
SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Richie Sexson and the Seattle Mariners
showed a little fight Thursday, but it did not show up on the
scoreboard as the club suffered a 5-0 loss to the Texas Rangers
in the finale of a four-game series.

Ramon Vazquez had four hits and Ian Kinsler blasted a two-run
homer for the Rangers, who have won three games in a row and
seven of their last nine.

The contest was marred by a bench-clearing brawl in the fourth
inning. While Texas starter Kason Gabbard's offering to Sexson
was high, it did not appear as if he was throwing at the
slugger.

"If you look at the replay, Gabbard was nowhere near Sexson's
head," Texas manager Ron Washington. "I guess he was just a
little frustrated and things got out of control. We don't throw
at people's heads. Sexson overreacted. We got two hitters hit
but that ball was nowhere near Sexson."

The 6-8 first baseman, however, felt differently. He charged
the mound and threw his helmet at Gabbard before taking the
pitcher to the ground as both the benches and bullpens quickly
emptied to join in the scuffle.

"I understood the situation and there is a right and a wrong way
to play the game," Sexson said. He hits me below the shoulders
and I am fine with it. But when you get up near the face,
that's when you start talking about careers. Nobody should deal
with that. It's the wrong way to play baseball."

Mariners starter Felix Hernandez, who hit two Rangers with
pitches earlier in the contest, became very animated during the
incident and needed to be restrained by Seattle catcher Kenji
Johjima and former teammate Eddie Guardado of the Rangers. Texas
catcher Gerald Laird also needed to be held back by teammate
Milton Bradley.

"I'm too old to be throwing punches at guys," Laird said.
"Especially over there. They are a bunch of great guys. It was
just the heat of the moment. It's baseball. It's part of the
game. I'm just glad no one got hurt."

Sexson was the only player ejected as a result of the incident.

"I am sure it all (recent frustrations about lack of offense)
came to a head right there," Sexson said. "It's no secret we
haven't scored any runs for a while. We haven't been living up
to our potential. This team offensively on paper is way better
than this."

Gabbard (2-0), who yielded just two hits and four walks in 3 2/3
innings, did not retire another batter. He walked Miguel Cairo
and surrendered an infield single by Yuniesky Betancourt before
leaving the game with bruised legs.

"He had just come off the DL because of his back and he was at
the bottom of the pile and he started feeling it, so we couldn't
leave him out there," Washington said of Gabbard's early
departure. "To us, he just looked like he was laboring and I
wasn't going to leave him out there and let him hurt himself."

The Rangers' bullpen combined to pitch 5 1/3 scoreless frames
with five strikeouts. The Mariners, who managed just four hits
overall, have been held scoreless for 22 consecutive innings.

"Our pitching staff. It's all them," Washington said. "We went
through a rough stretch last month but these guys have picked
it up and we got three great starts. Kason was throwing the
ball great until he came out. And our bullpen has been great."

Texas opened an early 2-0 lead as Vazquez scored on David
Murphy's sacrifice fly and Brandon Boggs added an RBI single in
the first. Kinsler blasted a two-run shot to left-center field
off Hernandez (2-3) in the second to double the advantage.

Vazquez capped the scoring with an RBI single in the sixth.

Hernandez lasted five innings, surrendering four runs and six
hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

ALAT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATETWO-RUN HOME RUN BY IAN KINSLER (3) TO LEFT WITH 1 OUT IN THE 2ND OFF FELIX HERNANDEZ SCORED GERALD LAIRD.CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 4, SEATTLE 0DUE UP FOR TEXAS: R VAZQUEZ (.275, 1-FOR-1)